Wounded
by IHaveTheKeyToYourHeart
Summary: Eli and Penny are both very wounded people, both have experienced more hardship then the average person. They both have had their heart broken more then once and both need each other more then they may realize. Eli and OC. Eclare FRIENDSHIP.
1. Her Beauty and the Moonlight

Adam walked ahead of me, then stopped and turned around, sensing that I wasn't following him.

"Come on!" he cried impatiently, walking back towards me and grabbing my arm in a surprisingly strong grip. "I helped you with your room yesterday. I had to _scrape_ some kind of unidentifiable substance off the floor from under your desk that smelled like horse shit. Therefore, you have to suffer with me through this dance."

I sighed. Adam was forced to go to the annual end-of-the-school-year dance because it was sponsored by the school board, which his mom was on. He said his mom had said he had to go because it would "look bad" if neither of her sons showed up at the dance. (Drew had gotten grounded a few days ago because his mom had caught him and Bianca in his room doing "the deed" as Adam had put it when he told me the story.) So now Adam had to go to represent both Torres brothers so the other school board members "wouldn't talk." And since he has in fact helped me clean out my room for several months now, I do sort of owe him.

As we approached Degrassi, I felt myself begin to get a little jittery. I was pretty damn positive that Clare would be here, since she went to all school functions. And ever since what had happened over Spring Break, we avoided each other like The Plague. In fact, I don't even think we've even said one word to each other since then.

The first month and a half after the break-up was almost un-bearable. Even though I'm strictly against clichés, I felt like I had _nothing_ left to live for. I had been down this road once before, and I obviously didn't handle loss well. Nor did I handle grieving well. When I was in the hospital after the "accident" (that's what everyone calls it but I don't consider it an accident since I did it on purpose), this therapist would come to my hospital room twice a day, wake me up usually, and start talking to me about a bunch of shit retaining to "dealing with disappointments" AKA, not crashing your car into a telephone pole when breaking up with your girlfriend.

I had been in therapy before. My parents were worried about me after Julia's death and forced me to see a therapist. I didn't cooperate though, and wouldn't even talk to the therapist, so after a few failed sessions, he prescribed me an anti-depressant and diagnosed me as "temporarily depressed."

But now, it's almost the end of June. The last day of school was today, and it's been over two months since Spring Break. I didn't think it was humanly possible for me to be even somewhat happy again after the breakup with Clare, but I found myself actually _coping. _Not exactly over everything yet, definitately not over _her_ yet, but I was coping. I was going from day to day and making it through each and every one. I'm not saying things were easy, because they weren't, but I found a will and some hope somewhere in me that I had buried deep after Julia died.

But I had a terrible anxiety that started creeping up on me that somehow Clare and I would bump into each other tonight and somehow, something bad would happen. I didn't know what to say to her if that would happen. So my plan was to go into the gym, find a nice corner, and sit there for the entire four hours of the dance.

Adam and I walked up the front steps of Degrassi, both taking small, slow strides, both dreading what waited inside. Adam didn't want to go because Fiona would be there, and he was still pretty hurt over that, even if he didn't really show it. Let's face it, Adam and I have had enough relationship problems combined to last an entire freaking lifetime.

There was corny pop music radiating from the building, which made the entire situation even worse. I mean I listened to rock or screamo, if you really wanted to put that kind of goth label on it, and I could be tolerate of several other genres of music: blues, alternative, even _rap_ sometimes depending on the level of intelligence the lyrics had, but I could not _stand_ any of that crappy pop music that basically every other teen was obsessed with. My ears would most likely be bleeding by the time the dance was over.

Adam flung open the door and we stepped inside the lobby. I scanned the lobby quickly for Clare, but there wasn't anyone there but a few couples and groups of girls. Adam and I slowly walked into the gym, where blue and gold streamers hung from the ceilings and a disco ball hung from the huge ceiling fan in the middle. On the opposite side of the gym hung a banner that read "Congratulations on another great year Degrassi!" _Great? _My ass. This was probably the worst year this school has ever seen. Does no one remember the crackdown?

I scanned the thick crowd for Clare but I didn't see even see anyone with curly hair. I sighed and Adam and I made our way over to the snack table. We looked like single losers, sitting there, stuffing our faces with potato chips. I was just about to go find a place to sit down when the music stopped and Sav's voice boomed from a loud microphone from a stage at the front of the gym that I couldn't see through the crowd.

"Hey Degrassi! Hope all that studying for exams paid off! Now it's time to kick back and relax and have some fun!"

The whole gym erupted in "woo." Then there was a shuffling noise and then Holy J's voice.

"Now, Sav and I managed to get a live performer tonight! It was very last minute otherwise we would have told you guys about it earlier."

The room broke out into applause. Adam and I exchanged a surprised look. Adam and I had been to a few dances this year, and there had never been live music.

"Now put your hands together for Penny and The Nicks!"

There was another shuffling sound and then after a few seconds the gym erupted into loud rock music. Adam and I took one look at each other and then pushed our way through the crowd to see who this mysterious band that saved us from a night of bad pop music was.

A girl started to sing and I stopped in my tracks. The sound sent chills down my spine, which was odd. I lost Adam in the crowd during that second I stopped and I mentally slapped myself as I pushed throw the people again.

And of course, just as I get through a row of couples making out, I run smack into Clare, literally. I was expecting this, because let's face it; I don't have the best luck. I felt my cheeks flaming, which doesn't happen often.

I didn't know whether to just keep pushing through the people or say hi. I finally shouted a meek "Hi Clare."

"Hi." she replied, looking uncomfortable. I couldn't help noticing how nice she looked. She was wearing a sky blue dress that complimented her eyes.

"Uh… how are you?" I asked, awkwardly shuffling my feet.

She cleared her throat. "I'm fine. And you?"

"I'm alright." There was an awkward pause and I wanted to get out of here. "Bye."

I shoved past her and continued up to the front of the gym, still blushing. As I was almost there, I ran into Adam again and then I saw the band. All thoughts of that awkward conversation with Clare were forgotten.

The singer was a petite girl with literally _gold_ hair that I couldn't tell if it was natural or dyed. She had deep, dark blue eyes and a cute round face. Her lips were a hot pink color and she wore dark makeup around her eyes. She was wearing a black t-shirt, black skinny jeans and black converse high tops. But her voice… I had never heard anything like it. It was light and melodic and flowed over the heavy rock music with an indescribable ease. I found myself staring at the girl, and Adam and I were right in front of the stage. She noticed and smiled a bit at me.

I found myself blushing for the second time that night. Eli Goldsworthy does not blush.


	2. Sick Little Games

I woke up the next morning, the early afternoon sun shining in small rays through the window next to my bed, that I had duct taped a British flag over. I groaned groggily and swung my legs over to the floor and rubbed my eyes. I ran a hand through my bangs and got up, throwing a black t-shirt on over my naked chest and some black sweat pants over my boxers and left my room.

I headed downstairs, Cece and Bullfrog's voices filled the house. They sounded like they were arguing over something, which they never did. I walked into the kitchen, concerned with what was going on.

When they saw me they froze. Cece had her pointer finger jabbed into Bullfrog's chest, and she dropped her arm awkwardly. My dad had his arms up in a defensive way and tried to look more casual as I walked further into the kitchen.

"Good morning…" I said, raising my eyebrows at them. Cece turned away from my dad and turned towards the kitchen sink and pretended to be scrubbing a dish, but I could see the sink was empty and the breakfast dishes were already piled into the drying rack.

"Good morning." Bullfrog said, his voice sounding oddly formal and forced. I stepped around him and opened the fridge and took out a carton of orange juice.

"Eli, it is two thirty in the afternoon." Cece said. "It isn't the morning anymore."

"Sorry. I was out late last night." I said, pouring the juice.

Cece cleared her throat in surprise. "Really? Where did you go?"

"A school dance. I told you that's where I was going last night before I left." I said, pouring the juice into a glass, rolling my eyes at her.

"Oh… sorry I must have forgotten about that." she said. "Did you have fun? Did you go with… _anyone_?"

Cece and Bullfrog were aware that I didn't like to talk about Clare. And usually, I talked to them about everything. Clare was a painful topic to talk about, even more painful then talking about Julia. But I guess Cece still assumed that Clare and I would eventually get back together. She was wrong. After everything that happened, even _I_ didn't have any hope for us anymore. But then again, I'm not the most optimistic person ever…

"I went with Adam." I said simply, sitting down at the table. Cece turned around and sat down across from me. Bullfrog sat down at the other end of the table.

"Well… that's nice." Cece said, forcing a smile.

I laughed darkly. "Yeah. Sure."

Cece reached out and touched my hand but I pulled my hand away and dropped it under the table.

"Baby boy, I know you don't want to talk about this stuff, but I'm sure you'll find another girl-" I cut her off.

"_Please_ Cece, not now." I groaned.

She nodded. "Sorry."

There was an awkward silence. I sipped my juice.

"So… what's up with you two? You looked to be in the middle of a… predicament when I walked in." I said, glancing at them.

I didn't really keep much from my parents and they usually didn't keep much from me. Trust me, they told me tons of things. Things I _didn't_ want to know most of the time, if you catch my drift.

"Oh…" Cece cleared her throat and shot Bullfrog a look. "It's nothing. Just taxes."

"It's summer. Tax season was a long time ago." I said.

Cece looked at me, obviously uncomfortable. "Eli… it's nothing you need to worry about."

I sat up straighter in my chair. "If I didn't need to worry, you would have told me what it is."

Bullfrog folded her hands on the table. "Just tell him."

Cece looked at him in shock, promptly burst into tears and left the kitchen. Bullfrog and I stared at the threshold that went into the hallway, where she had gone, in shock.

Bullfrog dropped his gaze to the floor. "Eli… maybe I'd better tell you. Your mom is very upset because… she's _expecting_."

I felt the blood drain from my face. I had heard the story a million times, my parents had _never_ wanted children. I was a mistake, they didn't put it that way, but I was an accident. They always made it clear that they were happy they had me as their son, but they weren't going to have any more kids.

"What?" I cried, jumping up from my chair. "Well… well why were you two arguing?"

Bullfrog sighed, his face scrunched up. "She wants to… terminate the pregnancy and I didn't want her too."

"Abortion?" I said, my voice rising. "Seriously?"

"She is pretty positive that that is what she wants to do. I can't stop her."

I gripped the table, accidentally knocking my glass over. "She's your wife! You should have a say in what she does!"

Even though I wasn't religious, I still didn't believe in abortion. And I thought my family felt the same way.

"Well, not this time. Another baby gone…" he muttered.

I could tell he regretted the words as soon as they were said. He looked at me in panic.

"_Another baby gone_?" I repeated in shock. "How many times as she done this?"

"A few times." Bullfrog said.

I looked at him, and chucked the orange juice glass into the wall and ran towards the front door and ran outside, slamming the door behind me.

I couldn't believe this. Cece, multiple abortions. And they never even told me?

I shook my head as I walked down the sidewalk, barefoot. I hadn't even realized I was heading towards school until I walked into the parking lot.

Then I spotted _her_. The girl from the band last night. She was dragging an amp out of the front doors, by herself. She turned around and spotted me, and looked surprised. I felt myself start to get nervous, all thoughts of my parents instantly vanish.

I felt stupid, and like a stalker. First of all, I was barefoot and only wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. My hair was probably something similar to a rat's nest. And here I was, halfway across the parking lot, staring at her.

I started walking towards her. Maybe I could redeem myself by helping her. I stopped at the bottom of the front stairs.

"Hi." I said, awkwardly. "Need help?"

"Uh.. yeah sure." she said uneasily, staring at me. "Do you usually come to school in the summer like you just fell out of bed?"

I chuckled nervously. "Sorry. I just kinda… got upset with my parents and left the house like this. I don't know why I came here."

I walked up the stairs and grabbed the amp and helped her carry it down the stairs. She was still staring at me uneasily.

"I see. Parents will be parents." she agreed as we set down the amp on the ground. "I'm guessing you go to school here?"

"Yeah." I said. "Do you?"

"No. I go to Bardell. I just played the dance last night with my band." she said. "Wait… I think I saw you there. Were you in the front by the stage?"

I nodded. "You guys were really good."

She smiled, the corners of her bright pink lips crinkled upwards. "Thanks. I don't know why Sav asked us to play at your school. Do you guys not have any of your own bands at Degrassi?"

I shook my head. "Not that I know of."

She nodded. "Wanna go back inside? I still have to get two more amps and a guitar. My bandmates were too lazy to clean anything up last night."

"Sure." I said, following her inside the school. The school was eerily silent as we walked towards the gym. She opened the door and held it open for me and we stepped inside.

Clare and Alli stood on the other side of the gym, cleaning up streamers and trash. Clare paled when she saw me walk in.


	3. Paper Hearts Bleeding

The girl, probably sensing the tension, glanced at me and then Clare. Clare had her eyes locked on mine in an intense stare for several seconds, and then she turned around, grabbing a black garbage bag and shoved out the back door of the gym. Alli looked at me with her what-the-hell look and followed Clare out the door.

And all I did was walk in the room.

"Ex?" the girl said softly, walking backwards to the stage, looking at me with raised eyebrows. "I'm guessing a fairly new ex?"

I was staring at the door Clare and Alli had just gone out and then turned towards the girl (I still didn't know her name), slightly surprised.

"Uh… yeah. How'd you know that?" I asked, the suspicion creeping into my tone.

"I just do. It was… obvious." she said, shrugging. I started to follow her to the stage.

We grabbed another amp and it took a few minutes to get it off the raised stage. She made cute grunting noises as she lowered it to the floor.

_Did I really just think that? I'm such a creep…_

Once we got the amp on to the floor she collapsed on to the floor dramatically and started laughing.

"Thank God you're here." she said, giggling. "It took me almost a half an hour to get the last amp off the stage and my arms just about broke in the process."

I chuckled. "It's no problem. Those jerks shouldn't have left you to clean up everything."

She smiled. "They always do. I'm used to it. All of our instruments would be stolen or abandoned if it weren't for me."

I forced a smile and sat down next to her on the floor. She sat up a bit and smoothed out her hot pink t-shirt. It said Penny and The Nicks on it in black, boldface letters.

"So your name is Penny?" I asked. She burst out into giggles.

"Well… not exactly." she said, waving her hand at me as if the topic was dismissed.

But I didn't let it go. "Well, then what is it?"

She stopped laughing. "It's embarrassing. Penny is just my… nick-name. It sounds cooler then my real name. A _lot_ cooler."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, my name is Elijah. Eli for short. I always thought it was a terrible name."

_That was weird. I usually don't ever tell anyone that my full name is Elijah._

She punched my playfully. "Oh please. Eli sounds so cool."

I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic. I cocked an eyebrow.

"Eli sounds like… a gangster. Or a pimp. Or something."

She glanced at me, a happy smile playing across her features. Her dark blue eyes were lit up, like they were smiling too. Then she burst into laughter again. So did I.

And soon enough we were on the floor, clutching our stomachs and trying to stop laughing.

I tried to catch my breath.

"Hey… you never told me… your name." I gasped out between laughs. She sat up, her golden colored bangs flipped across her face. She pushed them behind her ear and shook her head.

"Na-ah. I don't think so. We never made a deal here. I'm not obliged to tell you it." she said seriously, and for a moment I thought I had said something wrong or offended her. Then she giggled.

One thing I noticed about her was that she laughed a lot. And she wasn't one of those girls who laughed over everything and it sounded super annoying. Her laugh sounded so natural and joyous, I couldn't help but laugh with her.

"Come on, please." I begged, dragging out the word 'please.'

She looked up at me and slowly stood up. "Fine. But only because you're helping me move the rest of the equipment to the van _and_ take down the stage."

"Deal." I agreed. She got up and started to grab the amp, I grabbed the other end of it and we started walking towards the door.

"It's… Bertha." she said simply as she held open the front door for me to carry the amp the rest of the way out.

I almost dropped the amp. "_Bertha_? Why would your parents do that to you?"

She stared at the ground sadly and I realized I had offended her. I set down the amp on the top step of the school and walked towards her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so blunt-" she cut me off with a giggle.

"I was kidding. It's Penelope. Penny… Penelope… get it?" she said. "I hate Penelope."

I then realized she was a good actress. I thought she was about to burst into tears after I reacted to 'Bertha.'

"I think Penelope's fine. It could always be worse." I said, shrugging and grabbing the amp and dragging it down the steps towards the other amp.

"It could be Bertha." she agreed, smiling as we set down the amp.

I chuckled. She took a key ring out of the pocket of her black pants and started walking towards the parking lot.

"I'm gonna go get the van. Wanna run in and grab something light… like a guitar or something?"

I nodded and headed up the stairs. I opened a door and headed back towards the stage. I grabbed a black electric guitar and then found a case it seemed to go with and carefully put it in to the case. I hadn't heard the door open again.

"Excuse me." I heard Penny say politely. I turned around to see who she was talking about.

Clare, Alli and Penny were walking through the door of the gym. Alli and Clare had their arms linked and completely ignored Penny as they headed over to the other side of the gym, where the refreshment table was, littered with trash.

Penny gave me a weird look like what's-their-problem as she walked towards me, grabbing the guitar case from me.

"How cute, Eli found himself another girly-friend to drag down with him." Alli called from across the room. I froze, feeling the blood drain from my face.

"Alli!" Clare's voice hissed. I turned around. She was staring at me, her mouth wide open and a look of shock on her face.

"Excuse me?" Penny asked, in a way different way then she used the phrase just seconds before.

"Careful honey. Just wait. Eli has tons of secrets to spring on to you just wait for it." Alli said, her voice acidic. Penny looked at me in shock.

"She's not my girlfriend." I said softly. That's all I could bring myself to say.

Penny dropped the guitar case and started walking towards Alli.

"Yeah, I don't' know you and I barely know Eli, but what I do know is that I think you should stop shooting of your mouth. Eli and I are here to do something and so are you, so why don't we just finish up and leave all the stupid drama out of it?"

Alli just rolled her eyes. "I know you're from the band, but why is _he_ helping you?"

"Well he was nice enough to volunteer to. I don't see how that's any of your business." Penny replied, standing her ground and crossing her arm.

Clare just stood behind Alli, a look of horror on her face.

Alli just laughed, without humor and started clearing off the refreshment table.

"Sorry. Just go back to doing whatever you're doing." Alli said, semi-sarcastically.

Penny turned back towards me, smacking her lips in an annoyed fashion as she hopped back onto the stage and grabbed the case again.

I felt sick to my stomach. Obviously, I could not handle confrontation with Clare. At least not yet.

"I think… I think I better get home. I didn't… I didn't tell my parents where I was going." I said, gripping the rail on the side of the stage.

Penny nodded.

"Oh yeah… that's okay. Thanks for your help, Eli. I appreciate it." she said softly.

I glanced towards Alli. There was a smug look on her face. Clare was facing away from me, leaning against the table in an odd way.

"Yeah. Sorry I couldn't help you with the rest." I said, hopping off the stage and heading towards the door, Penny was right behind me with the guitar case.

We both walked outside and Penny headed down the stairs in front of me.

"Hey… it's none of my business but even I can tell that you and that girl must have had something… special. If you ever want to vent or anything you could always call me. I'm a great listener." she said, smiling sadly at me.

I forced a smile. "Thanks."

I reached into my pocket for my phone but then I remembered I didn't bring it. I looked at her, apologetically.

"That's okay. Just put your number in my phone and I'll text you so you have my number."

She handed me her phone and I entered my number and handed it back to her. She smiled.

"Thanks again for the help." she called over her shoulder as she opened the back door of a blue van, tossing the guitar into it.

**A/N: So far, I have no reviews. That's not something I obsess over like some people, and honestly I don't care if no one reads this story because I enjoy writing it so much it doesn't entirely matter to me. But if you do read it, don't be afraid to review because I do like feedback!**


	4. Come Back to Me

** Thank you to my two wonderful reviewers: ****Yeye-Lubz2-Dream**** and ****eclarefanaticxoxo****! I'm glad you two are reading this! I wasn't expecting this story to be that popular because I know a lot of people aren't that ecstatic but Eli/OC stories, and honestly, I'm not really either. But I have written about 10 stories about Eclare and I just wanted to do something different. Trust me, I am a 100% Eclare fan, they are my favorite fictional couple ever and I have never been this obsessive over a couple before. But I have always toyed with the idea with Eli falling in love with someone else other then Clare or Julia, and I was considering writing a Eli/Imogen story, but there isn't that much information on Imogen and I knew as soon as I started making up what I thought Imogen would be like, a promo or some kind of information would be released making my Imogen character and the real Imogen character seem like two different people. So I played it safe and made up Penny, who in a few ways is a lot like me! :P**

When I got home, I ran upstairs and into the sanction of my room. I didn't know where my parents were, or if they were even home, and I honestly didn't care. If they were home, they knew better then to bother me right now so I didn't have to worry about confrontation or what I'd say to them.

After I closed my door, I collapsed on my bed. The image of Clare's shocked face in the gym just moments before, kept flashing through my brain and I felt my chest start to heave with a sharp pain I was all too familiar with in the last few months. Part of me wondered if that was the last time I'd see her until school started again. School was the only place I'd see her in the past two months. I didn't want this to be the last memory I had of her for the entire summer. I closed my eyes tightly, as I tried to block out the images and her voice. Somehow, it worked. And an image of Penny singing on stage last night replaced it.

My eyes shot open, shocked. I shook my head rapidly and rubbed my eyes roughly, pulling out a bunch of eyelashes in the process. I decided to distract myself by getting dressed and stood up and put on a pair of dark wash jeans and a simple black t-shirt. Then I heard my phone vibrate, but didn't know where in my room it was. Let's admit it, I'm not exactly a socialite so it's not like I use my phone too often. And ever since Clare and I broke up, I've barely been using it at all except to occasionally talk to Adam. So, it gets buried in my room under junk accidentally, _a lot_. Then I remembered, Penny had my number and said she was gonna text me. I started moving things around and looking under piles of junk but after fifteen minutes of searching, I still couldn't find my phone. I was about to give up when it buzzed again, and I had a good sense of what part of the room it was in now. And sure enough, it was on top of my desk, under a few comic books.

_Two Text Messages, Unknown Number_ my phone read. I opened them, instantly disappointed.

They were spam from some ringtone company wanting me to buy a ringtone. I dropped my phone back on my desk without care and went back and laid down on my bed.

I don't know why I was so excited to hear from Penny again. It wasn't like I even knew her all that well, I mean, we met today and only were together for like 45 minutes. But when all the Alli/Clare awkwardness happened, she seemed so… understanding. When I was with Clare, she didn't understand how I felt. She was the listening type, but it wasn't like she completely understood. I just got a vibe from Penny… like she'd been in a similar situation as mine or something.

I laid on my bed for a good half an hour, lost in my thoughts. Then I realized: this was going to be my summer; sitting in my room, doing nothing. I sighed and stood up. I really didn't want to spend 3 months in this room, suffocating under the masses of junk, rotting away. This is _exactly _how I spent last summer, the first summer after Julia's passing. I would spend days on end in this room, only leaving occasionally to get food or use the bathroom. I was expecting this summer to be so much better, to have the warm days spent having fun with Clare and sometimes Adam; falling more and more in love with Clare.

My eyes stung with tears when those words entered my mind. The terrible realization hit me like a slap in the face, _again_; Clare and I would not exist together, ever again. And I had no one to blame but myself.

As I stood by my bed, my fists clenched, I had the urge to punch something. Now that Clare was just about out of my life completely, I basically had only a few people in my life; Adam and my parents. And since I was upset with 2/3 of those people, I just about have no one. I sunk back down on to my bed, overcome with loneliness like a pathetic loser.

Part of me wished I could go up to Clare, right now, and explain everything and make everything okay. But the other part of me, the sensible part, knew that she was probably moved on to some degree and wanted nothing to do with me. This was an example of love just not being enough.

I let a few tears slip out, but I had never been much of a crier so I quickly wiped them away and wouldn't let anymore out. This was one of those days where I felt like my world was crashing down, which in a way, it had and still was.

**XXX**

Sometime during my own personal pity-fest, I must have drifted up to sleep. I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing again and I groggily go out of bed to go get my phone.

_1 Message, Unknown Number_

I felt my spirits rise as I opened the message and the first five words were: "_Hi Eli, this is Penny."_ I had lost hope last night that she'd text, and just assumed that she thought I was pathetic and had her own fun by pretending she wanted to talk to me again. I smiled a bit to myself as I read the rest of the text.

"_Sorry I didn't text sooner, there was an emergency band practice. Anyways, we got this last minute gig at the Ecohart Room downtown opening for some other local band and you should totally come! I can get you free tickets most likely and you looked like you could use a bit of cheering up yesterday. (: Anyways, text me back if you're interested_."

I immediately typed out my response: "_Sounds great! What time?_"

My stomach then grumbled angrily, reminding me that I hadn't really eaten anything decent since before the dance, two days ago. I changed into some clean clothes and headed downstairs, in too good of a mood now to really care about avoiding my parents and too hungry to concern myself with anything other then food. As I leaped off the last stair and walked into the kitchen I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard a voice that I knew was very out of place here. All thoughts of food were gone as I followed where the voice was coming from, in the living room.

I didn't even try to hide my confusion or annoyance as I saw Alli sitting on our couch, my mom across from her.


End file.
